Local & State Dispatches

EEE samples detected in Maine mosquitoes / Four in Wiscasset charged with drug trafficking, heroin possession / Race team member dies after fall from pickup truck . . . and more news from around the state.

One mosquito pool — up to 50 bugs — tested positive Aug. 9 at the state’s Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory. The mosquitoes were collected on July 16.

The previous earliest detection of EEE in Maine was in early August.

Last year, Maine identified EEE in a flock of pheasants. Seven mosquito pools tested positive last year for West Nile Virus.

So far this year, Massachusetts has identified EEE in horses and mosquitoes and Vermont has seen positive tests in mosquitoes.

SCARBOROUGH

Voters asked to apply state funds to teacher retirements

Residents will vote Tuesday on changes to the education budget.

Voters will be asked to consider an amendment to the $38.8 million budget approved during a June 11 referendum. If approved, the amendment would also allow Scarborough to use a portion of additional state subsidy funds to offset a shift in teacher retirement costs.

According to school officials, $520,283 in teacher retirements costs was shifted from the state to the town. An additional state subsidy of $788,038 allocated to the town will offset the new retirement expense.

If the amendment is approved, officials plan to use the remaining balance of $267,755 for tax relief.

“There have been some significant concerns regarding the rapid increase in property taxes, so we felt the best compromise would be for the school board to cover the expenditures we had, then (as the town council to) apply the remainder to property tax relief,” said Chris Caiazzo, a school board member and chairman of the finance committee.

STANDISH

Race team member dies after fall from pickup truck

A 47-year-old Standish man died after the last race at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday night when his foot slipped off the bumper of a pickup he was riding on and he fell in the path of the trailer it was towing.

Gregory Rowe was catching a ride on the back of the Sally Gherardi racing team’s pickup from the pit area when the accident occurred at about 11:30 p.m., said Scarborough Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse. The Ford F-150 pickup, driven by Timothy Hatch, 32, of Standish, was going no more than 15 mph when Rowe fell, Rouse said.

Rowe apparently had one foot on the bumper and the other may have been on the tongue of the trailer, Rouse said.

“Beech Ridge has been open since the ’50s … that’s probably the first time that’s ever happened,” Rouse said. “It’s a tragic accident.”

A speedway statement read: “We at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt condolences to one of our race teams and its families following an unfortunate loss late Saturday night. We know the entire Beech Ridge community shares in your grieving process and will continue to hold you in its thoughts and prayers.”

SACO

Drive-ins compete for prize to assist with upgrades

Two Maine drive-in theaters are competing in a national contest to win digital projectors needed to continue showing new release movies past the end of the year.

The Saco Drive-In and Prides Corner Drive-In in Westbrook are both part of Project Drive-In, a national contest sponsored by Honda to bring attention to the costly upgrades facing small theaters across the country.

Voting continues for the next 27 days. People can vote once each day via text message and once daily on Honda’s Project Drive-In website.

CARTHAGE

Teen boy fatally entangled by rope while dirt biking

A 15-year-old boy was killed in western Maine after becoming entangled in rope while riding a small dirt motorcycle Sunday evening.

The Maine Warden Service says the boy was carrying a coil of rope that became entangled in the rear wheel. He then became entangled in the rope as well, leading to his death.

The boy’s name has not been released.

NEW GLOUCESTER

Man riding ATV dies after crashing into tree

State police say a New Gloucester man has died after the all-terrain vehicle he was operating struck a tree.

Police say Brock Thompson, 32, pulled out of a dirt driveway and onto the road at 3:30 p.m. Sunday when he lost control. A neighbor called 911.

Trooper Jodell Wilkerson says Thompson was not wearing a helmet and suffered major head injuries.

The crash is under investigation.

AUGUSTA

Retired 4-star general dies, flags will fly at half-staff

Flags will fly at half-staff over Maine National Guard facilities on Tuesday to honor the late Gen. John R. Dean Jr., who died last month at age 94 in Bangor.

He led a 40-year military career in which he retired as a four-star general in charge of the Army Material Development and Readiness Command.

He left the Army two years later to begin a career in the private sector.

He retired and moved to Gouldsboro in 1995. His funeral was scheduled for Tuesday at the old cadet chapel, West Point, N.Y.

PORTLAND

Campaign against climate change makes Maine stops

A coalition of community leaders met Monday in Portland as part of a 27-state bus tour to demonstrate local support for climate change standards and to call on residents to act on climate issues.

The trip, known as the “I Will Act on Climate” bus tour, is stopping in communities across the country — including Portland and Bangor — that organizers believe have been directly affected by climate change.

Tour leaders, along with state and local public officials and representatives of business and the energy industry, called for citizen participation in fighting climate change.

WISCASSET

Four people charged with drug trafficking, possession

A local pair and two others from New York face drug trafficking and possession charges following a search of a Gardiner Road home last week.

Travis Crowley, 31, and Carol Crowley, 25, both of Wiscasset, were arrested Friday and charged with heroin possession, Cmdr. Scott Pelletier of the Maine DEA said.

Amandalee Ayala, 26, and Angel Luis Miranda, 35, both of Brooklyn, N.Y., were each charged with aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs.

The Crowleys were released on unsecured bonds. Ayala and Miranda are each being held at the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset on $10,000 cash bail each, Pelletier said. Additional charges are expected, he said.

Pelletier said police found 3 grams of heroin, methadone, suboxone and fentanyl patches, none of which were prescribed to either Crowley.

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